Guns, what about them?

In the last year of my old school a bunch of guys got guns for Christmas. Then I moved to uni and I live with three guys with a keen interest in war and weaponry, basically all through my life I've always know what you might describe as a gun nut. I personally do not see the fascination and I disagree with the right to bear arms in America as I think it just causes more problems. What would your reaction be if guns were legalised here in the UK? Would you go buy your first piece in the excitement? Would you disagree but buy one for protection? Would you refuse to have any part in it?

Myself, I've never fired a gun before and I have refused to so much as hold them before on account of my distaste for them, but on the other hand my flatmate has bullets, grenade shells and knives as decorations in his room. Often I am against the state imposing restrictions on what people can or cannot own but I am firmly in favour of the illegal status of firearms.

What are your thoughts on guns?

Last edited by Fabong on Sun Jun 12, 2016 4:14 pm, edited 6 times in total.

Like money, in the right hands guns can be a great tool. I don't quite understand some Americans though. Some Americans I've known over the years seem to truly, TRULY believe that banning guns would cause MORE gun crime in the US. This is despite the banning of guns clearly leading to less gun crime elsewhere, like here in the UK. I think the argument is that if guns were banned, how would we defend ourselves from a gunman? The counter argument is that there would be almost no gunmen because there would be no guns. If guns were made legal here I would buy one. I'd need something to defend myself against gun wielding nut jobs.

In the US, the right to bear firearms is enshrined in the Constitution.

I think a common argument for The States is that it's just freedom. If they end up being a Police State , the citizens can rise up against the state with their firearms. I think that's the original reason for the Second Amendment. We don't have that. Our government can do whatever the hell they want and there's nothing we can do about it. But America is a country born out of civil unrest, from the citizens rising up against the British. They value the ability to do the same to the current government. As a result, a lot of people feel that if the government takes away our guns, they're attempting to stop the citizens from fighting back and in turn are restricting the values enshrined in the Constitution. Sometimes they don't trust the government and the people in it like we do. They want to be able to fight back against an oppressive regime, and they want the tools required to do so effectively and with as few deaths as possible.

I think that's the idea behind the right to bear arms. Whether modern Americans are really going to fight back against oppression is doubtful, especially since the State has far bigger guns than the citizens.